Steel and Magic
by Tsuyayaka
Summary: A story of undead, swords, magic, mythical creatures, and romance. Read and review don't expect frequent updates.
1. Chapter 1

The sun shone brightly on the small town of Battleon, glancing off the top of the Guardian tower, which stood guard over all, including the Inn.

The occupants of Yulgar's Inn awoke slowly, but some quickly, eager to start a day that could lead them to fame and fortune.

One occupant seemed to be stuck in-between. She wanted to stay asleep for a few more minutes, for experience told her that everything would still be there if she took a few extra minutes. On the other hand, she had a hopeless infatuation for one of the residents of Battleon…

Warlic, the resident mage (of an age no one was sure of) who owned the town's magic shop. His hair was grey, but face was young, set with purplish grey eyes.

And Kyna had a major crush on him. And she was rather… persistent.

Everyday he dreaded opening his shop, for the young woman would pester him until she was called off for a Guardian duty, or for want to increase her gold count for better weapons or spells… or just sheer boredom. She seemed to think getting herself half-killed was fun.

In those times, if he were able, Jackel Sano, another magic user, would come up and taunt him about how he could slay a dragon but not get rid of one girl.

It was hard for Warlic to resist the rather powerful urge to throttle him. Besides, Kyna wasn't a girl. She was 18, therefore an adult.

At any rate, Kyna didn't really care (mainly because she didn't know…) and thus, clad in her guardian armour, armed with various weaponry, and followed by her numerous "pets", she went down the stairs of Yulgar's inn, and out the door. It was time to begin the day.

Warlic waited for the annoying young woman to come through his door, bracing himself for her non-stop, almost nervous, chattering. It was strange, she was level-headed with everyone else…

She didn't come in.

She was, in fact, gone for the whole day, only dropping in to obtain a better light spell, that she had finally obtained the experience to learn, so she could defend herself against the undead more successfully, since there seemed to be a rise in their numbers as of late.

Among the relief that she wasn't there to pester him, and scare away the other customers (she was quite a scary person, if she wanted to be), there was another feeling, almost of disappointment.

"It's just because it's habit," he muttered to himself, closing shop at the end of the day.

- - -

Kyna collapsed onto her bed at the inn with a loud thud, completely exhausted. The amount of undead rising up was killing her!

A small water vampragon, Vigoratus, looked up at her with an amused expression. _Aww, is the big warrior all tired out? _He teased, although she would be the only one hearing him- vampragons spoke with telepathy, quite handy in bad situations.

There was also that lovely side-effect of looking like you were completely mad when you talked to them.

She glared at him. "Fuck you," she muttered.

Her other seven vampragon (Nekura, a dark vampragon, Assarishita, a light vampragon, Okibi Doragon, a fire vampragon, Rakurai, an energy vampragon, Gingitsune, an ice vampragon, Kaze, a wind vampragon, and Daichi, an earth vampragon.) seemed to just roll their eyes (hard to tell with vampragons) at her and went to sleep in a corner.

"Vigoratus, this is the third day in a row that I've been attacked by THREE undead groups!" she groaned, "FATE HATES ME!"

Vigoratus rolled his eyes. _Come now, you know that the amount of undead have been rising. A war's brewing._

There was a small silence.

"Blast the godforsaken place!" she growled, "Can't it stay in peace for MORE than a couple of days?"

_What would be the fun in that?_

A hard object was sent whizzing at Vigoratus' head.

And missed by a good three feet (this was why she had no ranged weapons. At all).

"That's it!" she muttered, "Tomorrow, I'm taking a day off!"

_And I've been suggesting such for how many days?_ Vigoratus 'drawled'. It was hard to tell, with telepathy.

"Shut up," Kyna muttered, "It will also give me time to spend more time with Warlic…"

Vigoratus rolled his eyes. _You're never going to give up on him, are you?_

Kyna blinked. "… No…"

Vigoratus snorted. _You're pathetic._

"At least when _I _clean myself I use soap and water, not my tongue."

Vigoratus hissed and flew over to the other vampragons.

"What's his problem?" she muttered to herself, then blew out the candles and drifted into blissful sleep.

- - -

There was a magic-users meeting the following day, and Jackel Sano was pacing furiously, trying to contain his anger. The mage, like Warlic, had white-grey hair, but seemed much more… dangerous.

And he had the temper of the devil himself. Therefore, the pacing… didn't work.

"Damn it, where is that fool, Warlic?" he hissed to himself, and stormed through a portal, through the Ethereal Realm, and into Warlic's shop.

He was met with a strange, if rather amusing, sight.

The shop was a mess, with spell ingredients scattered everywhere, burn marks suggesting some had mixed.

Masses of spiked rock sprouted from the ground, like they did in Warlic's favourite spell, Earth Fury. Upon following where these spikes lead to, he found, completely encased in jagged rocks…

Warlic.

Next to him was the young woman Kyna, looking just a bit horrified at what she had done.

Jackel Sano nearly passed out from laughing so much.

"Stop your god damn laughing and get me out of this!" Warlic raged, clearly annoyed, struggling to get free, as he had been for the past five minutes.

Jackel Sano rose an eyebrow. "What, can't the all-powerful Warlic get out of a spell _he _created?"

Warlic's sent Jackel Sano an ominous glare, which the other wizard just smiled at.

"His hand are pinned to his side," said Kyna, "He can't move- how do you except him to cast a spell?"

"Ah, that explains it…" said Jackel Sano, "And why won't you help him out?"

"I don't know how…" she mumbled, looking down to the ground.

Warlic looked ready to kill her and Jackel Sano looked ready to go into another laughing fit.

He shook his head, amused. "I'll get you out Warlic, if only so that you can get to the meeting today…"

"Shit, the meeting was today?"

There was a pause. A very long one. "Yes… didn't you know?"

"I thought it was tomorrow…"

"Sometimes I wonder how you managed to get this far in life," Jackel Sano muttered, and with a wave of his hand freed Warlic from his stony prison.

Warlic brushed the rubble off of his robes.

"Err… sorry about that…" said Kyna sheepishly. "It wasn't supposed to do… that…"

"Stick to the simple spells," he muttered, "You're better at _those. "_

Kyna looked hurt. "I can do _some _complex spells," she mumbled.

Warlic snorted. "Not without somehow trapping me or half-killing me," he muttered.

"And, if you two are quite done, I would like to go!" Jackel Sano growled, back to being impatient now that the spectacle was over.

Warlic summoned a portal, and the two magic-users stepped through, the portal closing with a fizz and a pop.

Kyna sighed, and dejectedly went out from the shop. Could she not do _anything _right? It was no wonder Warlic always seemed annoyed with her. She was always around, always messing things up.

She sighed again. "Maybe I should just give up on it…" she murmured to herself.

It would be better, Warlic wouldn't have her blowing spells up in his face and she could do more battling to keep the world safe.

Yes, keeping away from Warlic would be best, for both of them.

But why did it feel like she was ripping out a part of her soul?


	2. Chapter 2

After a long day of battling monsters and, occasionally, getting beaten to a bloody pulp and meeting Death, Kyna trudged back to the inn.

She felt miserable, and it was all because she was (trying) to give up on Warlic. It really shouldn't have bothered her so much, it was just a simple infatuation.

Right?

Once inside her room, she took stock of herself in the mirror. Decked in her black, white-trimmed armour with black cape, any curves she had on her body obliterated, she was hardly any captivating beauty. Especially with non-descript brown eyes and pure white hair, kept in a bun, some strands escaping to flutter about her neck. Thankfully, the hair did not make her look old. It made her look magical.

However, she was better at fighting with weapons that at casting magic. So proven by the morning fiasco.

She sighed and peeled off the gloves, the boots, and the rest of the armour, feeling hot. Really, you roasted like a tin of beans in armour- she was thankful she used other armours at times, depending on the creature attacking her.

She sat on the edge of her bed, shaking her head. "Why can't I get him out of my head?" she asked herself, laying back and looking up at the ceiling.

She was silent, waiting for a snappy retort from Vigoratus

None came.

Kyna looked up and around her room. He wasn't there. Her other vampragons were outside, dozing in the sun or flying about, but Vigoratus was always inside, unless she invited him along.

She frowned. This wasn't like him at all, to leave like this with no notice.

She stood and darned a simple leather-and-wool get up, and went out to search for him. The world was filled with deadly creatures that a lone vampragon was no match against.

---

She searched until the sun went down, and dejectedly went back to her room at the inn. As she suspected, Vigoratus wasn't there.

She slept fitfully, and awoke feeling no better than the day before, exhausted. She dragged herself off to continue to search for Vigoratus, although it was rather hard when she was attacked at every turn by a creature out to eat her, or some such thing.

---

Warlic was taking a stroll, when he noticed Kyna sitting, dejectedly, on a log in front of one of the many forests of Battleon. She looked listless, something she _never _was. Frowning, he went over to see what was wrong.

And, must to his surprise, she didn't even look up when he came near, just stared at the ground, as if the answers of life might spring from it at any moment.

He walked over beside her. "Kyna?"

Hearing his voice, she looked up. She looked terrible, dark smudges under her eyes, which were also red-rimmed, from crying, no doubt. Something had happened, and Warlic wanted to know what it was.

He knelt beside her. "Kyna, what is it?" he asked.

She looked back down to the ground, closing her eyes. "Vigoratus… he's gone…" she said, her voice breaking, "I don't know where he's gone… I've looked everywhere for him, but he hasn't shown up anywhere… I can't even find a trace… it's so unlike him, and I don't know what to do…"

Warlic frowned. It was unlike vampragons to take off from their owners without a word. He also knew Vigoratus, a little bit, and knew that Kyna was right- he wouldn't leave without saying so.

"Would you like some help searching?"

"I don't think I'm ever going to find him…" Kyna sighed dejectedly. "I've looked everywhere- even in Death's domain…"

There was a pregnant pause. Finally, Warlic said, "You died… to find Vigoratus?"

"Yes," she sniffed, "He's my friend…"

Warlic twitched visibly. "I know… but Death could have decided to keep you," he said slowly, trying to keep his calm, "and that wouldn't have helped at all…"

"I… guess so…"

"Come on, I'll help you find him," Warlic offered, "maybe with a second set of eyes, you'll find him."

"What about your shop?" Kyna asked. "Don't you need to run it?"

"I could get Jackel Sano to look after it…"

"I guess you could… but isn't he… you know… insane?"

There was a pause. "True, but he could run the shop for a few hours… hopefully he won't scare away too many customers… maybe…"

Which was highly unlikely, and they both knew it.

Kyna smiled slightly. "I guess…"

"That settled, I'll get Jackel Sano to run the mage shop and I'll help you to find Vigoratus."

Kyna nodded. "Sounds like a plan…"

---

A few hours later, Kyna and Warlic were still looking for Vigoratus, and with no success at all.

"Where could he be?" she groaned, rubbing a bruise she obtained after they had been attacked by a rather vicious seed spitter.

"I have no idea," Warlic sighed, "He has wings, he could get anywhere…"

Kyna looked around, and frowned. The sun wouldn't quite be setting yet, but it was dark… like night. And she felt as if she was surrounded by an ominous, dark cloud that wanted to eat her…

"Oh fuck, shit, shit, SHIT!" Kyna swore, "We're in the Darkovia Forest!"

Warlic looked up, towards the sky, and noticed what Kyna had. "Oh…"

"Damn it, we're going to be _killed _if we stay here much longer!" She shouted, "We are going to be ripped apart!"

"Well… maybe not…" Warlic began, but was quickly interrupted

"Warlic, I'm siding with the vampires. The werewolves will track me down and kill me. I do NOT want to die at the hands… err, claws… of a group of flea-bitten, smelly, horribly dressed dog-men!" Kyna screeched.

It was quite obvious _why _she wasn't on the werewolf side now…

"If you keep on shouting, they WILL find us," Warlic muttered.

Kyna flushed crimson. "Err… sorry…"

Just then, there was a faint rustling in the bushes.

Kyna squeaked something along the lines of "They found us!" and jumped back, right into Warlic, bowling him over and falling on top of him… in a very suggesting pose.

Kyna blinked a few times before blushing an even deeper crimson. "Umm... sorry…" she quickly scrambled off of him.

Warlic seemed stunned, graced with a wide-eyed, rather spacey expression that Kyna couldn't make heads nor tales of.

"Warlic?"

He quickly snapped out of it. "Umm… yes…" he stood up. "What was that noise?"

"I don't-" the bushes rustled again. Kyna hid behind Warlic with a squeak.

He rose an eyebrow. "Oh, what a brave adventurer you make…"

"Shut up. You're the more powerful one here…"

"Very true." He admitted.

"And I'm a lady. You're supposed to protect me. Damsel in distress and all that."

"_That _I have a difficult time believing…"

She looked at the bush. "I wonder what it is…?"

Warlic rolled his eyes and went over to investigate, since she obviously wasn't going to. Honestly, it was just sad…

Kyna slowly followed him, however, she missed the root that was partially hidden in the foliage, and ended up tripping and flying into the bush, with an unceremonious thud.

She opened her eyes with a groan and stared face-to-face with a blood-covered… face…

She screamed and backed up, right into Warlic, knocking him over again. She was shaking, eyes wide in fright

"OMIGOD, OMIGOD, OMIGOD it was a BLOODCOVERED FACE!" she shrieked.

Warlic frowned. "What? Is it human?"

Kyna blinked and thought for a moment. "Umm… no… actually… now that I think about it…"

Warlic slowly stood up, Kyna as well. They both stared at the bush.

Kyna took a breath and stepped towards it, pushing away the branches slowly, steeling herself for what she might find…

What she found, however, was not something she was prepared for.

What lay below the bushes, his blood soaking the ground, was the beaten, torn body of Vigoratus.

Kyna stumbled back a few steps. She couldn't breath… the world was spinning… spinning into darkness…

Warlic caught Kyna quickly as she fainted, and looked towards the body of Vigoratus. He was still breathing, but his life force was slowly ebbing… he knew he had to get Vigoratus to help, but he couldn't carry him and Kyna at the same time, and there was no way he was leaving Kyna on her own.

To make matters worse, it was getting blacker in Darkovia, and despite the full moon there didn't seem to be a single bit of light. Distantly, he could here the howling of a wolf… or maybe, a werewolf?

The situation was going from bad, to much, much worse…


End file.
